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Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
STAR DATE: 1986. :HOW ON EARTH CAN THEY SAVE THE FUTURE? "A catastrophe in the future can only be averted by a journey into Earth's past." - 1986 TV ad Admiral James T. Kirk is prepared to take the consequences for rescuing Spock and losing the Starship Enterprise, but a new danger has put Earth itself in jeopardy. Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in an old Klingon Bird-of-Prey to right an ancient wrong, in hopes of saving Earth—and the Federation—from certain doom. Summary It is the year 2286, and as a result of , Admiral James T. Kirk and the crew of the recently-destroyed are stranded on Vulcan. They decide to return to Earth to face the punishment for their actions in the previous film on board their seized Klingon vessel, which was renamed the . Spock has regained full control of his faculties once again, and returns as a full-fledged member of the crew. Back on Earth, the Klingon ambassador to the United Federation of Planets is outraged that Kirk faces nine violations of Starfleet General Orders and Regulations and is not being held accountable for the death of the Klingon crew and ship as per The Search for Spock. Despite Sarek handily trouncing the Klingon ambassador in a verbal sparring match, he pledges that there would be no peace as long as Kirk lives. As the Enterprise crew returns towards Earth on their Klingon Bird-of-Prey, they discover that Earth faces a destructive alien probe which renders starships powerless in its path. It wreaks tremendous damage on the Earth's surface and proceeds to begin the evaporation of the oceans and the ionization of the atmosphere, leading to extreme weather patterns and cloaking the Earth in clouds and storms. Life on Earth is threatened, and Ambassador Sarek advises the Federation President to issue a warning that all ships should avoid Earth. The Enterprise crew analyzes the probe's signal, and Spock discovers that it is in fact a whale song, specifically that of the humpback whale, which has been extinct since the 21st century. Kirk decides the only way to save Earth and Starfleet is to travel back in time, acquire some whales and bring them back to the 23rd century. Kirk advises Starfleet of his plan, and performs the slingshot effect time travel method using the Sun. They find whale song in North America, specifically in San Francisco. They also find themselves in the year 1986. Kirk and his crew have difficulty adjusting to the 1980s, and rely on mere instinct to survive. The crew is split up into teams - Chekov and Uhura must collect radioactive photons from an American nuclear vessel to recrystallize the drained dilithium crystals on board the Bird-of-Prey; McCoy, Scotty, and Sulu are sent to find materials to construct a whale tank aboard the ship; and Spock and Kirk are to attempt to find the two humpback whales they detected in San Francisco. Kirk and Spock head to the Cetacean Institute and meet Dr. Gillian Taylor, a guide and whale lover. While at the Institute, Spock jumps into the whale tank and performs a Vulcan mind meld with one of the two whales, George and Gracie, and successfully explains the Enterprise crew's mission. Dr. Taylor is outraged by their actions, but later sympathizes with them as she runs into them while driving home from work. Spock's quirks amaze Dr. Taylor, such as blurting out the fact that the female whale is actually pregnant, something nobody outside the institute knows. Kirk and Taylor end up going out to dinner, and Kirk feels he has to reveal the truth about his identity - being from the 23rd century, working in space, etc. - to try and gain Dr. Taylor's cooperation in getting the whales, which were to be released back into the wild soon. She is skeptical at best and disbelieves Kirk's story. In the meantime, Scotty and his team have managed to find a manufacturer of large plexiglass walls - Plexicorp - and he and McCoy masquerade as scientists from Edinburgh who were to tour the plant - unbeknownst to the plant's head, Dr. Nichols. Scotty makes a scene, but is given a tour of the plant, and then later secures the required materials for constructing a whale tank by violating the Temporal Prime Directive by revealing the chemical matrix of the futuristic material, transparent aluminum. Sulu manages to befriend a helicopter pilot and secures the Huey 204's usage later in the film to help install the plexiglass into the Bird-of-Prey. Chekov and Uhura find the location of a nuclear vessel. Chekov, who of course speaks with a Russian accent, must have seemed very peculiar stopping random passers-by asking where nuclear "wessels" could be located, while the US and Soviet Union were still engaged in the Cold War. They, however, do find a vessel, the aptly named , and beam in secretly at night to secure the photons. Uhura transports out safely with the collector, but due to radiation, Chekov's beam-out fails, and he is discovered and held prisoner. He attempts to escape captivity but falls off a ledge and suffers severe head injuries. Dr. Taylor discovers in one scene that the whales were released without her knowledge and, in tears, returns to the park where the Bird-of-Prey is located, and is finally beamed aboard the ship by Kirk - the truth is now known. He is her only hope for protecting the whales, something she dearly wants. Before going after the whales, however, the crew has to rescue Chekov. McCoy, Kirk and Dr. Taylor manage to sneak into the hospital, where Chekov is revived quickly by 23rd-Century technology, after which they run through the hospital, and are beamed to safety while in an elevator. Dr. Taylor insists on coming with Kirk by latching onto him while he is transported on-board. The dilithium recrystallizes just in time for the crew to fly to Alaska, where the whales are located, and save them from a whaling vessel. The whales are beamed aboard, and the crew performs another slingshot back to the 23rd century, with Dr. Taylor in hand. The Bird-of-Prey falls afoul of the probe, and crashes into San Francisco harbor, and the whales are released and communicate to the probe. The probe halts its destruction of the oceans after communicating with the whales, and the Earth is saved. However, Kirk and crew still face punishment. Due to the preceding circumstances, though, all charges are dropped, except for one: disobeying a superior officer, which was directed solely at Admiral Kirk. Kirk's punishment is a permanent reduction in rank to Captain, and a return to command of a Starfleet vessel. Flying through Spacedock, the crew heads toward their new assignment. McCoy conjectures they will get a freighter, while Sulu (to Scotty's chagrin) hopes for ''Excelsior''. However, they soon see which vessel they will get: , a new USS Enterprise. The film ends with the crew in their new ship, heading out into space, ready for whatever may come next. Memorable Quotes "Admiral Kirk has been charged with nine violations of Starfleet regulations." "Starfleet regulations! That's outrageous! Remember this well! There shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives!" : - Federation President and Klingon Ambassador "Cloaking device now available on all flight modes." "I'm impressed. That's a lot of work for a short voyage." "We are in an enemy vessel, sir. I do not wish to be shot down on our way to our own funeral." "Good thinking." : - Chekov and Kirk "Come on Spock, it's me, McCoy. You really have gone where no man's gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?" : - McCoy, asking Spock about death "You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?" "Forgive me Doctor, I am receiving a number of distress calls." "I don't doubt it." : - McCoy and Spock "You're suggesting that we go back in time to find humpback whales. Then bring them forward in time, drop them off, and hope to hell they tell this probe what to go do with itself." "That's the general idea." "Well that's crazy!" "You got a better idea, now's the time." : - McCoy and Kirk, discussing time travel "Did... did you see that!?" "No'', and neither did you, so shut up!" : - '''Two sanitation workers', as the [[HMS Bounty|HMS Bounty]] lands in San Fransisco "Everybody remember where we parked!" : - Kirk, as the Bounty crew begins their mission "Hey, why don't you watch where you're going, you dumbass!" "Well, a double dumbass on you!" : - An irate driver and Kirk "It's a miracle these people ever got out of the twentieth century." : - McCoy "Excuse me, weren't those a present from Dr. McCoy?" "And they will be again, that's the beauty of it." : - Spock and Kirk, in an antique shop "How much?" "Well, they'd be worth more if the lenses were intact. I'll give you one hundred dollars." "Is that a lot?" : - Kirk and Antique shop owner "What does it mean, 'exact change'?" : - Spock, after he and Kirk are kicked off a bus "Excuse me, sir. We are looking for the naval base in Alameda. It's where they keep the nuclear wessels." : - Chekov, asking directions from a San Francisco Police Officer "Ooh, I don't think I know the answer to that. I think it's across the bay. In Alameda." : - A San Francisco local, answering about the locationed of the aforementioned nuclear wessels. "To hunt a species to extinction is not logical." "Who ever said the human race was logical?" : - Spock and Gillian "They like you very much, but they are not the hell your whales." "I... I suppose they told you that, huh?" "The hell they did." "Right..." : - Spock and Gillian Taylor "There she is. From the institute, if we play our cards right, we may find out more about when the whales are leaving." "How will playing cards help?" : - Kirk and Spock, about learning more about the whales from Gillian "Back in the sixties he used to be part of the free speech movement at Berkeley. ''(Kirk whispers to Dr. Taylor) I think he did a little too much LDS." "''LDS?" : - Kirk and Dr. Taylor, as Kirk tries to explain Spock's quirks "Are you sure it isn't the time for a colorful metaphor?" : - Spock, to Kirk "You're not one of those guys from the military, trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes, or some dipshit like that?" "No ma'am, no dipshit." : - '''Gillian' and Kirk "You guys like Italian?" "Yes." "No." "No – Yes." "No." "Yes. I love Italian. ''(Kirk looks at Spock) And so do you." "''Yes." : - Dr. Taylor, Kirk, and Spock, being asked out for dinner to discuss matters "I find it hard to believe that I've come millions of miles–!" "Thousands, thousands!" "– thousands of miles...!" : - Scott and McCoy, with Dr. Nichols "Are you sure you won't change your mind?" "Is there something wrong with the one I have?" : - Dr. Taylor and Spock "Wait a minute... how did you know Gracie is pregnant, nobody knows that." "Gracie does." : - Gillian Taylor and Spock "Don't tell me. You're from outer space." "No, I'm from Iowa. I only work in outer space." : - Gillian Taylor and Kirk "Hello, computer." : - Scotty, speaking into Dr. Nichols' mouse "Ah – a keyboard! How quaint!" : - Scott, trying to work a Macintosh "You realize that if we give him the formula, we're altering the future." "Why? How do we know that he didn't invent the thing?" : - Scott and McCoy, at Plexicorp "Ok, let's take it from the top." "The top of what?" "Name." "My name?" "No, my name!" "I do not know your name." "You play games with me mister, and you're through!" "I am? May I go now?" : - A Marine and Chekov, as Chekov is interrogated aboard the Enterprise "They left last night. We didn't want a mob scene with the press. It wouldn't be good for them. Besides, I thought it would be easier on you this way." "You sent them away without letting me say goodbye!? You son of a bitch!" : - Briggs and Taylor "Dammit, do you want an acute case on your hands? This woman has immediate postprandial upper abdominal distension! Out of the way... get out of the way." "What did you say she's got?" "Cramps." : - McCoy and Kirk, on getting past the guards "Chekov, Pavel. Rank: admiral!" : - Chekov, regaining consciousness "How's the patient, Doctor?" "He's gonna make it!" "He? You came in with a she!" "One little mistake..." : - Police officer and Kirk "The doctor gave me a pill, and I grew a new kidney!" : -'Old woman in hospital' "Spock, where the hell's that power you promised?" "One damn minute, Admiral." : - Spock and Kirk, after having learned "colorful metaphors" on 20th century Earth "Admiral – there be ''whales here!" : - '''Scott', as the whales are beamed aboard "... The charges and specifications are, Conspiracy, Assault on Federation Officers, Theft of Federation Property, namely the starship ''Enterprise. Sabotage of the USS Excelsior. Willful destruction of Federation Property, specifically the aforementioned USS Enterprise, and finally Disobeying direct orders of the Starfleet Commander. Admiral Kirk, how do you plead?" "''On behalf of all of us Mr. President, I am authorized to plead guilty." "So entered. Because of certain mitigating circumstances, all charges but one are summarily dismissed. The remaining charge, disobeying orders of a superior officer, is directed solely at Admiral Kirk. I'm sure the admiral will recognize the necessity of keeping discipline in any chain of command?" "I do, sir." "James T. Kirk, it is the judgment of this council that you be reduced in rank to Captain. And that as a consequence of your new rank, you be given the duties for which you have demonstrated unswerving ability, the command of a starship. Captain Kirk, you and your crew have saved this planet from its own short-sightedness and we are forever in your debt." : - The Federation President and Kirk "Father." "I am returning to Vulcan within the hour, I wanted to take my leave of you." "It was most kind of you to make this effort." "It was no effort. You are my son. Besides, I'm most impressed with your performance during this crisis." "Most kind." "As I recall, I opposed your enlistment in Starfleet... It is possible that judgment was incorrect. Your associates are people of good character." "They are my friends." "Yes, of course. Do you have a message for your mother?" "Yes, tell her I feel fine. Live long and prosper, Father." "Live long and prosper, my son." : - Sarek and Spock, making amends "The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter." "With all respect Doctor, I'm counting on ''Excelsior."'' "Excelsior''? Why in God's name would you want that bucket of bolts?" "''A ship is a ship." "Whatever you say, sir. Thy will be done." : - McCoy, Sulu, Scotty, and Kirk, as the travel pod flies through spacedock "My friends... we've come home." : - Kirk, to his crew on approach to the Enterprise-A "Helm ready, Captain." "All right Mr. Sulu, let's see what she's got." : - Sulu and Kirk, as the Enterprise leaves spacedock and heads out into space Background Information * The film is dedicated "to the men and women of the [[Wikipedia:Space Shuttle Challenger|spaceship ''Challenger]]", which exploded at launch on , almost 10 months before the release of ''Star Trek IV. * The Voyage Home is the highest-grossing Star Trek film to date, making over $109 million in the United States. Due to the success of this film, Paramount decided to make the second Star Trek TV series a reality (after the unsuccessful attempt of Star Trek: Phase II). That series eventually became Star Trek: The Next Generation, which premiered the following year. The first US VHS tape release of the movie contained a small promo clip for The Next Generation, briefly introducing the new Enterprise and characters. * Outside of North America, the film's title was changed to The Voyage Home: Star Trek IV, and references to the Star Trek brand were consciously avoided. This was done largely because had suffered badly from competition with Ghostbusters outside of North America and only grossed just over $10m. A special prologue (see Trivia section below) was created to detail the events of and to aid newcomers. http://www.trekweb.com/stories.php?aid=sU/n82DdXTxD6 While the tactic was somewhat successful, the rest-of-the-world gross of around $24m was still less than a fifth of the film's overall total, and so was marketed as normal worldwide ( was not theatrically released in most countries). Although the early VHS releases also carried the inverted title, when the film was eventually released on DVD, its title reverted to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home worldwide. Creation and Production * This film marked the start of Michael Okuda's 19 year relationship with the Star Trek franchise, both movies and television. For this film, he designed the computer displays as well as introducing the "touch screen" computer consoles, seen in the rest of the Star Trek films and television shows (except for Star Trek: Enterprise). * According to several issues of the DC Star Trek comics letters page, the film was originally scheduled for release in the summer of 1986, but was delayed due to William Shatner still filming episodes of and they had to wait until its shooting season was completed before Shatner could join the project. * The character of Dr. Taylor was originally a male character who was a wacky college professor who was a "UFO nut," and, for added humor to the lighthearted script, actor Eddie Murphy was offered the role. He declined and decided on The Golden Child instead (a decision he admits later was a big mistake), and Catherine Hicks won the role. According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories, Eddie Murphy actually approached Nimoy and Bennett wanting to be in the film, as he was a huge Trek fan, but it was his agents and Paramount themselves who decided mixing the studio's two biggest (at the time) franchises (Star Trek and Beverly Hills Cop) in one film wasn't the best idea. Nicholas Meyer later stated that when he came in to write the 20th century section of the film, he realized the earlier drafts were written with Murphy in mind. * An early draft of the script had Sulu meeting a young child on the streets of San Francisco who was his distant ancestor. According to William Shatner's Star Trek Movie Memories, the scene was an idea pitched to Harve Bennett by George Takei who, when he discovered the scene was to be shot was delighted. However, when it came time to film the scene, the child they hired to play the role of Sulu's great-great-great grandfather was not a professional actor, and his mother was on set, causing the child to be extremely nervous. Consequently, they couldn't get anything done with the boy and eventually they had to move on. The scene was scrapped, much to the heartbreak of Takei. * Early drafts of the script had Saavik remaining on Vulcan due to her being pregnant with Spock's child, following the events of the previous movie when young Spock went through pon farr as he aged rapidly, implying that he had sex with Saavik on the Genesis Planet. * Most of the shots of the humpback whales were taken using four-foot long animatronics models. Four such models were created, and were so realistic that after release of the film, US fishing authorities publicly criticized the film makers for getting too close to whales in the wild. The scenes involving these whales were shot in a high school swimming pool. A large animatronic tail was also created, for the scene on the sinking Bird-of-Prey, filmed on the Paramount car park, which was flooded for the shoot. The shot of the whales swimming past the Golden Gate Bridge was filmed on location, and nearly ended in disaster when a cable got snagged on a nuclear submarine and the whales were towed out to sea. * The scene with Koenig and Nichols asking about the location of the naval base was shot with a hidden camera. In an interview with StarTrek.com, Layla Sarakalo stated that she approached the assistant director about appearing with the other extras and was told not to answer Koenig's and Nichols' questions. To the annoyance of the other extras, she did answer them and had to be inducted into the Screen Actors' Guild as a result, as the production crew found the line too amusing to be cut out. http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/news/article/14344.html * Some of the Bird-of-Prey footage is reused from . * The aircraft carrier sequences were actually filmed aboard the conventionally-powered Forrestal-class carrier USS Ranger (CV 61). Ranger can be told from Enterprise by her longer rectangular superstructure (barely visible behind the hair of Nichelle Nichols) and different arrangement of aircraft elevators. Enterprise was out at sea at the time and unavailable for filming. Even if available, in 1986, the engineering spaces of the nuclear carriers were deeply classified and filming a movie in them would have been impossible. All Enterprise sailors were played by Ranger personnel (in certain scenes, freeze-frame reveals sailors wearing Ranger ballcaps rather than Enterprise ones). * Dr. Taylor orders Michelob beer over dinner, one of the few instances where an actual product is named in Star Trek. While the beer's label was never shown, another company managed to have a rare Trek moment of product placement. The computer used by Scotty at the Plexicorp factory is clearly a period-appropriate Macintosh Plus, and Apple Computer Company—as it was then known—receives a credit at the end of the film. offers one of the few other instances of product placement in the franchise's history, when Kirk, Spock and McCoy go camping wearing Levi's jeans. Continuity * Madge Sinclair's character as the captain of the ''Saratoga'' was the first female Starfleet captain shown in Star Trek. * This marks Majel Barrett's final performance as Christine Chapel. * The film marks the last on-screen appearance of a Starfleet Commodore, seen as a non-speaking extra in the Federation Council chambers, until the Star Trek: Enterprise episode . This remains the last chronological appearance in-universe, however. * The city of San Francisco would be visited by time-traveling Star Trek characters again, in the episodes and . * Brock Peters, who plays Admiral Cartwright in this film (and later in ), also plays the father of Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Awards * Star Trek IV was nominated for four Oscars, more than any other Trek film - Best Cinematography (Don Peterman), Music (Original Score) (Leonard Rosenman), Sound, and Sound Effects Editing (Mark Mangini). * Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. * Nominated for the ASC Award for Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases (Don Peterman). * Nominated for 11 Saturn Awards - Best Science Fiction Film, Best Director (Leonard Nimoy), Best Actor (both Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner), Best Supporting Actor (both James Doohan and Walter Koenig), Best Supporting Actress (Catherine Hicks), Best Costumes (Robert Fletcher), Best Writing, Best Special Effects, and Best Make-up - of which it won one (Best Costumes). Notes * The lighted table in Starfleet Command eventually became the famous "pool table" located in main engineering of USS Enterprise-D. * The clothes worn by Leonard Nimoy as Spock during his swim in the whale tank were auctioned off in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction (item #4282). * The whaling ship used in the film was a World War II minesweeper called Golden Gate. http://www.fast-rewind.com/startrek4.htm * The whale hunters speak Finnish, even though the script called for a crew of famous humpback hunters like the Swedes, Icelanders or Russians to be used. http://www.st-minutiae.com/academy/literature329/tvh.txt Finland has never had any sort of whale hunting industry. However, Norway, a prominent whaling country, has a minority of Kvens, who speak a dialect of the Finnish language. * Since the producers decided not to use subtitles for the Finnish dialogue or the probe/whale song sequence (although Paramount at one point did want subtitles for the film's climax), this is the only film of the first six Star Trek movies to not have any subtitles--not even to establish location or timeframe. Voyage Home, The Voyage Home, The de:Star Trek IV: Zurück in die Gegenwart es:Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home fr:Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home nl:Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home pl:Star Trek IV: Powrót do Domu sv:Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home